End the unfairness of official bilingualism. Stop wasting our tax dollars.

October 12, 2014

Not Voting Conservative

I have heard from a number of readers who say that they will not vote for the Conservatives in 2015 because they are very disappointed with the lack of concern the Conservative government has for the plight of the unilingual English-speakers who have been relegated to 2nd class status. They say to me - why support a government that continues to promote, protect and preserve a language that is clearly on the decline on the world stage and in Canada. Despite billions of tax dollars thrown at this policy, the number of bilingual (English/French) speakers have not increased significantly. In fact, proportionately speaking, other language groups are growing faster!!! The Francophones and Francophiles want more spent on promoting French and their claims of “assimilation” is looked upon as a legitimate reason to continue wanting more and more spent on them. Why continue to flog a dead horse!!!

I have to keep reminding those readers that we still have a constitution that gave us the OLA and the Charter and a Justice System that supports both. The 1982 Constitution, put in place by the Liberal government of P.E. Trudeau, cannot be easily rewritten. What we can hope for is a Federal government that is willing to circumvent the OLA & the Charter and the Conservative Party is still the only party that is willing to do so. We have seen them make several attempts to right the wrongs in the 1982 Constitution and here is the latest one i.e. scrapping the bilingual bonus.

Just recently, Graham Fraser, complained that cuts in budget spending is affecting the policy of Official Bilingualism and adding further to the lack of progress being made to adhere to that policy. The unions are of course, up in arms over the cuts - the unions are run mostly by Francophones or Francophiles and all they are concerned about is themselves. The Conservative government is defying the unions by reducing the size of the Federal government and we have to applaud them for that - they are looking after the economic health of Canada.

The scrapping of the $800 bilingual bonus is a welcomed move. The bonus was meant to encourage more people to learn French but in many cases, they were being paid to French-speakers who got their positions because they were bilingual so it is double-rewarding a Francophone for functioning in French!!

I’ve included the article from lapresse because it shows the biased reporting of most French news media. Not giving the bilingual bonus does not make the positions unilingual English, as they charge. It’s taking away an unnecessary reward!!!

So bravo to the Conservative government for this move!!!

President (CLF)

p.s. the lapresse article is translated from French and the quality of the translation is not up to par, IMO.

Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser is upset that his office investigated 476 complaints during the 2013-2014 year - up 15 per cent from the previous year. Perhaps he and all Canadians need a reality check.

Out of an estimated Canadian population of 35,427,000 as of April 1 (Source: Statistics Canada), the complaints represent a massive 0.0013 per cent of the population who complained about linguistic issues, including not being served in the official language of their choice.

With a budget of $23.9 million for the 2013-2014 year, the cost amounted to about $50,210 per complaint investigated. Granted, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages does other things, such as sending mystery travellers to airports located where the French-speaking population is less than one per cent, to see if they got service in French. They even sent mystery shoppers to private businesses around Ottawa to see if they got served in French (nothing to do with their federally legislated mandate).

This office is a colossal waste of taxpayer money; its usefulness is long past. There are many other checks and balances in every federal government department regarding linguistics, and any issues regarding service in the official language of choice can be and should be handled within each department.

Bob Hurter, Orléans

As I always said, respect is EARNED - it is not legislated, enforced, monitored or audited. Equally important, respect is a two-way street.

Louise, Ottawa

Take the Charter of Rights and Constitution away......and what do you have left?........PROBABLY A HEALTHY CANADA, CONTINUING TO PROSPER, AND WITH THE ABILITY TO ELIMINATE UNHEALTHY SITUATIONS TO ALLOW IT TO GROW MENTALLY.

Judy - B.C.

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